The Prospect Powder Portal: 2-8-26

EdBacon · February 8

Too cold for lifts today so uphill is the game. Visited Prospect Mountain nordic center outside Bennington. This used to be an alpine and nordic ski area but the alpine ski area closed in the 1991. The trails are still maintained for alpine touring and cross country skiing.

Temp was -4F pulling into the parking lot. About a dozen other cars were there at noon. An all day pass for alpine touring or cross country costs $25. The main skin track is straight up the old T-bar line. Prospect is not steep, and it's an easy skin up to the top.

Someone in the lodge said they'd been getting 1-3 inches of orographic lift produced snowfall a lot of nights over the last few weeks. They got maybe 3-4 inches last night. There was one other set of fresh tracks up today and one guy followed me up. Most of the trails have filled back in after the last major snowfall and are about knee deep in very light powder. The mountain was, for all intents and purposes, untracked this morning with a couple of exceptions like the lift line. It was very easy to find routes down with a completely pristine powder surface. This was probably the best day of snowboarding I've ever had.

Did not feel the temps for the most part. The air was dry and there wasn't too much wind.

Had a hot drink and some chili in the lodge before heading out.

Absolute 10/10 day.